erin & jay: it's a domestic life
by penwielder62
Summary: a window into what life might be like beyond the job for jay halstead and erin lindsay. (first in the original posting order of my cpd metas.)


first in the original posting order of the cpd meta sets.

(credit to the creators of _chicago p.d._ where it is due.)

* * *

watching late night movies together at erin's place from the couch. erin sitting between jay's legs, back pressed against his chest as her head lolls against his shoulder. jay cradling her weight, at complete ease, leaning his chin against her hair with a content smile.

 _making breakfast_. erin smiling and offering a raspy _good morning_ when jay shuffles up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. jay dropping his head to her shoulder and mumbling back his own greeting then kissing the side of her head.

 _or_ erin meandering out of the bedroom to find jay making eggs. making a sassy remark in the house husband vein before going to hug him. erin pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder and jay just grinning before he turns the stove off and pulls her close for a proper good morning smooch.

going back to one apartment after a grueling case, on both the mind and body. getting through the shower, washing away the grime and the strain, and then crawling into bed. erin rolling until she's pressed up against jay and pulling his arm across her and jay just tucks her closer. erin tracing her fingertips across his knuckles and jay closing his eyes to rest.

waking up together. jay being the first to rise and shine, after years of military training, and getting completely ready for the day. erin groping around behind her for jay with a pinched brow before he notices and leans across to tug her onto her back. erin grumbling, jay grinning. erin dragging him down to kiss him as reward punishment him for his good humor. (the phone ringing breaks it up.)

jay pushing the cart through the grocery store with a look of absolute boredom.

erin waking up in the middle of the night to an empty bed. ignoring the palpitation of fear in her chest and stumbling out of the blankets to find jay. pausing when she sees him sitting upright on the couch, asleep, but his 9mm within reach. (she can't bear to ask later but stays on the couch with him that night, being careful not to disturb him.)

okay but imagine this: grumbling about who's the _real_ blanket hog in this relationship.

erin sitting on the counter in her kitchen and jay standing between her legs while they flirt. except, all the time. so often it's now normal. they'll talk about cases that way.

erin just. hugging jay. out of the blue. tugging his phone out of his hand, dropping it to the side and wrapping her arms around his waist, forehead pressed to his chest. jay not asking, just holding her in return, as long as she wants.

jay being completely entranced with her hair? like, always wanting to run his fingers through it. tugging out the severe ponytail so it falls around her face again. (but then brushing it back when it obscures her smile.) combing his fingers through it absently while they're watching tv.

erin has very strict rules about what is just right scruff and what is way too much. _i will shave you myself, halstead, so help me_.

erin liking piggy back rides. mostly to hear him complain and then comply, but also just being close. pressing her nose into his shoulder, breathing him in. feeling his fingers pressed against her thighs to keep her from falling. (she fell asleep once and denies it to this day.)

back rubs for driving privileges.

imagine these two dorks falling asleep trying to out-scrabble each other.

erin has an awful night of sleep, doesn't fall asleep until six in the morning, and wakes up hours later in a panic about work. until she spots this scrawled note on her bedside table from jay. _sleep as long as you need. i've got you covered. voight and i will survive without your smiling face for a day_.

jay gets in moods where _everything_ has to be cleaned. erin hates it when these happen at her apartment because he stops whatever they'd doing to herd her into picking up, starting laundry, cleaning the bathroom– _what the hell is this monstrosity in the bathtub_?

erin sitting behind jay when he's folding his their laundry into neat little military squares, chin resting on his shoulder. jay has warned her half a dozen times about house husband comments. erin never listens.

erin and jay going on real dates.

snowball fights in the park. nobody arounds them gets why two grown adults are shouting and laughing, battering each other with packed snow, stuffing it down each other's coats and finding warm skin to press cold fingers against in retaliation.

seeking each other out after a bad case, one where they didn't win. tears filling erin's eyes before jay pulls her in and hugs her tight, murmuring reassurances, but his throat is tight too. they don't make it to the bed that night, staying out on her couch instead where there's no room to roll away in their sleep.

late sunday afternoon naps on the couch. sunlight streaming through the windows, warming the air. jay passed out hard on his back and erin dozing on top of him, listening to his heartbeat beneath her ear.

spring cleaning ft. drill sergeant halstead. (erin threatens to refuse him _favors_ if he keeps it up. jay never listens.)

family dinners with hank and will. all four of them. it's instigated by hank, found awkward by all the first two times it happens, and then it's just matter of course. jay likes to ask when natalie will be joining them. hank messes with jay's mind about erin, who puts her foot down about it. will gets this satisfied look when erin and jay get into a laughter-filled hip-check competition while working on dishes.

erin lounging around in jay's shirts all the time. then starting to steal them when he's not paying attention, until jay realizes she has more of his shirts than he does. but she promptly returns them all, no explanation. they don't smell like him anymore.

jay adores the way erin's voice sounds. seriously adores. the rising and falling cadence that dips in and out of what he's dubbed the "voight gravel" because _babe, your dad has it too. it's a voight thing_. (he especially likes the way his name sounds when she says it low and rough.)

jay actually being on really good terms with hank? he's still not quite comfortable, because this is his boss, but there's no defensiveness there. he's proven himself and voight's accepted that jay is different for erin.

sharing memories from before they met late at night, curled up together in bed. halting and difficult sometimes and teasing and light on others. erin asking, somewhere between 2am and 4am, about iraq. jay just managing to say _it was bad_. she doesn't push it.

erin will never admit it, but she fell a little bit more in love with jay halstead the day he stood between her and her mother and told bunny to get the hell out of erin's life, or she would regret it.

and let's be real. they get distracted making out _all the time_.

* * *

followed by "erin & jay: life can be hard" in the original posting order.

thank you for perusing this scrawl! comments, critiques, and concerns are always welcome.


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